Month

January 2011

I’m ashamed to say even Cupcake Obsessed me was too lazy to make trips out to Brooklyn to stalk these babies, but lucky me, Kel made a trip to Park Here while I worked (right around the corner!) this gloomy and hungover Saturday.

And he did not disappoint!! Presented with a box of all the flavors available today, we sat in the showroom and all shared bites of cupcakes.

There I am! Posing on the back of a snowmobile. But I swear, I did go for a ride on that thing! (I was chaperoned by the birthday boy – Keith.)

I had so much fun this weekend even though I was surrounded (and at times nearly covered) by my least favorite thing in the world – snow. It was nice to take a break outside the city (although most of this weekend was go! go! go!). Fresh air, a frozen lake, a huge house to stay in with a bunch of friendly faces. We woke up to Mel’s chocolate rice, had the kind of ramen that you eat out of a styrofoam bowl (holy 2003, batman!), oven heated pizzas, little burrito thingies, and cocktail wieners. Not exactly a foodie’s vacation, but man… these simple pre-cooked oven heated treats… sure does cut the cooking time down.

I’ve been here about 4 times now, chef’s choice each time, but only took pictures twice. Favorite pieces – tuna (because I’m boring like that), the squid with uni (almost always eaten first or second), and that weird thing that looks like maybe a clam. Oh, and the shrimp, so sweet, and the eel.

Their cooked food always smells amazing and is extremely tempting to get, but I just can’t bring myself to not order the chef’s choice. So that’s why I always go with a date. 😉

P.S. You don’t see me writing about Japanese food a whole lot, so believe me when I say this one is fantastic.

…pictures. Good bye old cell phone. Hello to making new food memories. The slate is wiped clean!

(I could’ve shown you the massive amounts of seafood we had in Rhode Island, first trip of 2011, most memorable was the night we got in and stumbled in, rumpled, to The Mooring Restaurant, highly rated on Yelp, and listed as one of Giada’s favorite places in Newport. But I can’t. Because I lost all my RI pictures. How sad…)

So instead, I will show you pictures of the food we had at Scarpetta… the reliably wonderful dining institution in NYC.

Fritto Misto to share, incredibly light and amazing with the addition of fried herbs and strips of vegetables.

Another set of appetizers – fried mozzarella accompanied by the most amazingly flavorful tomatoes, and super tender, melt-in-your-mouth shortribs.

To share – a can’t miss dish at Scarpetta, the polenta topped with truffled mushrooms.

Unbelievably stuffed at this point – three pastas arrived to share. From top, cavatelli with braised rabbit, spaghetti with tomato and basil, and the agnolotti, which I’ve always felt tasted mysteriously like a Big Mac… (If I had a choice, I’d trade the other two in for another portion of the spaghetti… to go.)

The set of mains – A snapper subbed fish (forgot which), and less-sticky-and-sweet-from-what-I-remember capretto, amazing this time with super crunchy and adorable little cubes of potato.

The final set – dessert – both of which I’ve had before and enjoyed greatly. A light and fruity pannacotta and warm chocolate cake. My favorite part of the chocolate plate were the little crunchies hidden underneath the caramel ice cream. MORE CRUNCHIES PLEASE!!!

New Year, new eats. Aleady off to a amazing start: New Years Day, as we were checking out of the Ace Hotel, as we were polishing off our first breakfast of 2011 at The Breslin, as we licked the last couple crumbs of croissant off our fingers, we decided — ROAD TRIP!! To Rhode Island!

But before I post the photos taken on the trip with Kel and Randal and myself (as the 3rd wheel), I wanted to recap the most memorable dishes I’ve had towards the end of 2010…

Since I am nearly in love with all things uni.. first there was the fattiest, most decadently prepared piece of uni I’ve ever had – uni, resting on a slice of crunchy toast, peeking out from under a warm and melting blanket of glistening lardo.

And then there was the roast suckling pig dinner at The Breslin for Kel’s birthday – juicy with crackly skin, we tore that sucker apart.

Everyone knows what a roast pig looks like… this is what a delicious roast pig looks like.

This is what the most beautiful (and delicious) piece of oyster sushi looks like at Sushi Yasuda.

You know a savory dish has to be good in order for me to get that in lieu of the usual sweet breakfast/brunch I prefer. The pasta at Michael White’s new place Osteria Morini is that exception. Gramigna – photo taken when there was actual light in the place!

Something I can eat over and over again… if I could get a table at ABC Kitchen at a decent hour! Crab on toast.

Did you think I’d forget dessert? The best one – a pear cake studded with chocolate chips at Al Di La in Park Slope. It’s a good thing that this restaurant is all the way in Brooklyn and up a steep hill that used to have me breaking out a sweat in the dead of winter.

And homemade – a tiramisu cupcake that was just as amazing on day 4 in the fridge as it was hot out of the oven. I’d make this more often, but baking up more than a dozen at a time, when I am hardly in the mood for sharing, is a bad idea.